1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system, an information processing apparatus, an output control apparatus, and a method, for sharing a printer connected to a network by a plurality of network clients, and to a recording medium which stores programs realizing the functions of the invention.
2. Related Background Art
Personal computers are now prevailing widely in offices, and network technologies interconnecting such computers are being developed. In using printers, conventionally, one printer is connected to one personal computer. However, recently, a printer is connected to a network and is shared by a plurality of personal computers connected to the network.
In many environments using a network printer, a print server is used which runs on a network OS such as Netware and Windows NT (registered trademarks). For sharing a printer, the printer server has been essential. A conventional server receives print data (job) from a client on the network, and transmits it to the printer if it is not busy. In this manner, the conventional printer controls a temporary storage of print data and a job transmission to the printer. Therefore, a storage means having a large capacity becomes necessary and a large load is always imposed in order to realize the server function.
With conventional technologies, after print data is sent to the network printer, the client has no print data at hand, and a print end notice is given when the print data is transmitted to the printer. Therefore, after the print data is sent, a host computer cannot recognize the actual print end of each job, i.e., the actual print paper discharge.